SEOUL, South Korea — He ordered his uncle executed and half brother assassinated. He spent millions developing and testing a hydrogen bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles as his people suffered severe food shortages. He exchanged threats of nuclear annihilation with President Trump, calling the American leader a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.”

That was last year’s image.

In more recent months, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has achieved one of the most striking transformations in modern diplomacy.

Mr. Kim has enticed South Korea and the United States into negotiations by dangling the possibility of denuclearizing his country. His popularity has surged in polls in South Korea as he prepares to become the first North Korean leader to meet a sitting American president.

BRUSSELS — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Austria on Tuesday sensing an opportunity almost unimaginable just months ago: to overhaul frosty relations with a European Union infuriated by President Donald Trump on a host of issues from climate and Iran to, most recently, tariffs and trade.

Never mind that Mr. Putin was until recently virtually a pariah in Europe after his military interventions in Ukraine, Crimea and Syria; after meddling in European elections and working hard to foment right-wing populist uprisings throughout the continent; after polluting the political environment with fake news; and after allegedly poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, charges Russia denies.

Mr. Putin was now gaining considerable traction by casting himself as a reliable friend and trading partner to Europe even as the Trump Administration was treating its closest allies there as strategic and economic competitors.

A record number of white nationalists are running for national office in 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center told MSBNC, including people who deny the Holocaust occurred and advocate for segregation.

At least eight people associated with white nationalists groups are running for office this year, according to the report, and some reportedly support forcibly removing minorities from certain areas.

[...]

Radford also spoke with Patrick Little, who is running on the Republican ticket for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat in California, a person who described Jews as a "monstrous" group.

Little said President Donald Trump speaks to people like him by decrying "globalists."

According to Little, "[Trump] dog whistled about globalists."

"I didn't understand he was talking about Jews until after the election," he said.

Little's sentiments seem to be shared by other white nationalists, as Trump has been praised by people like David Duke, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan. Trump was also endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan's official newspaper during the 2016 election.

Trump calls for Russia to be reinstated to G-7, threatens allies on trade QUEBEC CITY — President Trump on Friday said Russia should be readmitted to the Group of Seven leading economies, breaking... more